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RAW Over the past few weeks, the WWF product has been focused on
building towards the pay-per-view tomorrow night. There were quite a
few telling occurrences along the way, revealing some insecurities
with previous plans. Maybe "insecurities" is inaccurate; I suppose
another explanation might be that the WWF also only books for the
short-term, so major decisions of the moment might well be overturned
after more thought or because of sudden nervousness. Then again, one
might just say that the promotion is willing to adjust when plans
don't work out as hoped.
First up, RAW on 09/06/99 (reviewed in the previous update )
heavily hyped the appearance of Steve Austin on Smackdown on 09/09/99.
The plan was for Austin to take an extended leave from the WWF. In
fact, he had told his ex-wife that he would be gone for a long while.
Nonetheless, he's back after no time, sadly wearing huge knee braces
on both knees when he clearly needs the time to rest. The exact same
thing happened to Mick Foley. His extended leave from the group also
amounted to nothing. If you are fans of these guys, you want them to
disappear for a while to rest and recover. Of course, while their WWF
reputations might have been built on some great wrestling, both of
them can ride their reputations and get away with a lot less now, and
nobody will call them on it. The WWF wanted to bolster Smackdown's
ratings, so they featured a big tag team buried alive match, that was
the usual sports entertainment and garbage wrestling mix, this time
featuring Rock & Mankind against Undertaker & Big Slow. Slow was
absolutely horrible again. They are trying to give him a rub as a
killer, but it just isn't working, as he looks more and more
uncoordinated and unimpressive each week. Anyhow, Hunter Hearst
Helmsley interfered. Since HHH was having trouble getting over as the
champion, I guess the idea was to make everybody his enemy. If he has
heat with every name wrestler in the promotion, the theory goes, the
fans might think he's over. So, he whacked Slow with a shovel, and
Slow fell to the dirt mound, bringing to mind images of the whale
beachings in a Discovery channel documentary. An ambulance showed up,
with Austin coming out. Austin was hyped as appearing throughout the
show. The crowd popped for Austin like they pop for nobody else.
Austin ended up doing his version of WCW's humvee angle, this time
driving a Mack truck into the ambulance that held HHH. All of this
revealed a little insecurity with HHH as WWF champion. Although I
never thought that HHH had what it takes to carry the promotion, not
in the ring, not on the mic, not in any area, it seemed funny that the
WWF braintrust would come to that conclusion so soon after giving him
the title.
On RAW a few days later, they started the angle that would lead to the
return of Vince McMahon to WWF TV. "Forever," which the contract
stipulation stated would be the duration of the absence of Vince
McMahon, turned out to be a lot shorter than we thought. They also
seemed to abandon the interview that Jim Ross did with Davey Boy
Smith. Without getting heat from the Hart family situation, I don't
know how Smith will get over, given the direction of this promotion
and Smith's presumed physical limitations. Stranger still, on
Smackdown on 09/16/99, Vince McMahon won the WWF Title from HHH thanks
in no small part to Steve Austin. McMahon even bled. Match was
horrible, but that is par for the course in the WWF. Hey, don't get
mad at me for telling the truth. Everybody was so happy that Chris
Jericho jumped from WCW, and for his career and future contract value
it was a great move, but he hasn't had one good match since the jump.
He hasn't even had a mediocre match. Like fans of actual wrestling
feared, anybody looking for great Jericho matches will have to look at
his pre-WWF work, along with possibly some PPV matches in the WWF down
the line. His output of good-to-great matches is limited by the WWF's
product focus. Anyhow, taking the title off of HHH showed that the
promotion doesn't think that he could headline a PPV in a WWF Title
match. On RAW on 09/20/99, Vince vacated the WWF Title, putting the
title up for grabs to the winner of the "six pack" match at the PPV on
Sunday. That match will feature Rock, Mankind, Undertaker, Big Slow,
Kane, and HHH with Steve Austin as special referee. Oh lord. I really,
really want a triple foot to the face spot with Undertaker, Big Slow,
and Kane. Of course, the WWF had to take that hope away on Smackdown
on 09/23/99. The show was a replay of shows from last year, with Steve
Austin's role played by HHH and Vince playing himself, supported by
his son. You see, Vince, who on RAW three nights earlier explained
that he was vacating the WWF title because he had promised he would no
longer get involved in WWF business, got, oh, I'd say just a little
involved in the business by putting HHH through a gauntlet of matches
on Smackdown. The fallout was that HHH will stay in the "six pack"
title match at the PPV tomorrow, but Undertaker will be replaced by
Davey Boy Smith, who, as it turned out, worked against Vince's
interests. Will we eventually get Vince & Steve Austin vs. HHH &
Smith?
Other developments on TV during my absence: Shane McMahon continued to
ally himself with Test, which just doesn't work for me, anyhow. Jeff
Jarrett continued to beat up women. Big Boss Man actually brought the
remains of Al Snow's dog to the ring, putting them at the top of a
pole in a gimmick match. When Snow buried the remains on a later show,
Boss Man urinated on the grave. Boss Man capped things off by stuffing
dog food in Snow's mouth. Who writes this intelligent stuff? Chris
Jericho debuted Curtis Hughes, who he called Mr. Huge even though he
has lost a load of weight since we last saw him. He's almost
unrecognizable because of the new muscle as well. Jericho had a first
blood match against Ken Shamrock on Smackdown on 09/23/99, with
Jericho wearing protective gear and Shamrock once again "bleeding
internally." Another lame Jericho appearance in the WWF. My personal
favourite highlight of the weeks away has to be the bit with Shane &
Test teaming to face HHH & Chyna. Anybody who concluded that Shane's
willingness to risk his body by jumping through a table or jumping off
the top rope and twisting around somehow made him a wrestler was in
for a rude awakening during this match. And since matches are so short
by WWF TV standards, it was pretty funny how bad this match was. The
mistiming was awesome. Oh, and Shawn Michaels' heel turn on Smackdown
was never really mentioned again. Isn't he still the commissioner and
isn't he in HHH's pocket? Why did HHH get so screwed then? I know
there's a logical explanation because the WWF's booking is so
incredibly sensible. Surely, Shawn would use his stroke to help HHH
during this crisis, no? Oh well. And, seemingly as an admission that
Billy Gunn & Road Dogg have run their courses as singles wrestlers,
the New Age Outlaws joined up again, which of course makes a lot of
sense, since they were just fighting about the gimmick money a short
while ago.
All of this leads to Forgiven on PPV tomorrow night. The line-up has
* Undertaker vs. Big Slow vs. Kane vs. HHH vs. Mankind vs. Rock for
the WWF Title
* Chyna vs. Jeff Jarrett for the IC Title
* D'Lo Brown vs. Mark Henry for the European Title
* Dudleys vs. Acolytes
* Al Snow vs. Big Boss Man in a double cage match, with Rottweilers
between the cages
* Val Venis vs. Steve Blackman
For actual wrestling, this show seems pretty darn bad.
Nitro Loads to talk about in WCW, including weekly TV shows, a PPV,
and the reassignment of Eric Bischoff to elsewhere in the Turner
organization. First off, Eric Bischoff was removed from his position
as Executive Producer for WCW on 09/09/99. That led to a lot of high
hopes for the PPV that would take place only a few days later. The
jockeying for power, as one would expect, began in earnest almost
immediately. The creative and business sides of the promotion were
split, with the business side being given to Bill Busch, perhaps only
temporarily. The creative side is the subject of much speculation.
Temporarily, Craig Leathers, whose name we've all seen in the credits
of the WCW product since he has produced their TV for a while, has
been given ultimate creative control, with the exact same booking
squad (Kevin Nash, Kevin Sullivan, and Dusty Rhodes) cooking up ideas.
It seems sort of like firing the manager of a restaurant because the
lousy food sends patrons away, but then keeping the chefs. I sure
don't get it. In any case, the situation is likely very dynamic, and
we should probably expect changes in the booking team before long.
While elements of the TV have changed, somebody will conclude that
more must be done. Hopefully. There is a lot of talk that Ric Flair
wants the job as booker. Immediately, WCW cancelled their proposed New
Year's Eve PPV, which was meant to be a joint show with a KISS
concert. I guess somebody realized that people aren't going to be at
home watching wrestling on the biggest New Year's Eve in 1000 years.
Brian Adams' new gimmick as the Demon was scrapped. As has been widely
reported, the original plan was to have Demon be the legitimate son of
the devil who turned his back on his father's hellish life and came to
WCW. No, that isn't a swerve to lead to a jump by Shane McMahon. El
Vampiro, who was hypnotizing people in recent times, in a gimmick that
has also been dropped, would be revealed as evil and the natural feud
for the Demon. During their PPV match, Demon would dump Vampiro in a
huge pot of holy water, with Vampiro then coming out of the smoky
cauldron with a new gimmick as a face.
WCW TV over the weeks away has shown the usual mixed signs of limited
goodness and a lot of badness. I still don't get why they put on
matches like Van Hammer vs. Blitzkrieg. Anybody who thinks that is a
good idea should be fired or relocated a la Bischoff. But first the
PPV.
WCW had Fall Brawl on 09/12/99. Overall, I came away giving the show a
thumbs down. I guess the news of Bischoff's relocation and the ensuing
rebooking of the PPV led me to believe that they might actually do
some good things. During the pre-game show, they replayed the angle
where Sid & Rick Steiner ran in on Hulk Hogan vs. Sting on Nitro. Why
do they show that again and again? It was so horrible. Rick & Sid just
walked into the ring and lumbered around, taking forever to actually
hit somebody. That's a huge difference between WCW and the WWF. In
general, the WWF run-ins are at least done with some passion. In WCW,
fans have trouble getting into these storylines because everything is
done so halfheartedly by the wrestlers who have focus. Rundown:
* Eddie Guerrero & Rey Misterio Jr. & Billy Kidman beat El Vampiro &
Insane Clown Posse: Rey had his hair dyed blond. I have a lot of
trouble with ICP in every regard: selling, offense, psychology,
everything. This match had some really strong moments, and at
least had the right side go over. Still, why did Kidman pin
Vampiro? Is ICP worth protecting? More important is the aftermath
of this match, with Rey's knee being injured (not seriously), and
Vampiro being kneed hard in the face by Kidman during the finish.
His face was mangled a bit by that. Still, this was a really good
opener. Match time was 14:06.
* Lenny Lane beat Kaz Hayashi to retain the Cruiserweight title:
Best match on the show. Lodi told us that "everybody needs a blow
pop." Lenny acted totally gay, a la Exotic Adrian Street. Kaz did
a few spots that focused on Lenny's low back, and Tony said, "He's
still working on Lenny's rear end." Sigh. Amidst all of this
frivolity, Kaz delivered an awesome performance, totally
spectacular. Lenny still doesn't seem like he can carry a longer
match yet. Kaz hit a Liger bomb, which was even called correctly,
for a two. Victory roll for a two after knocking down Lodi. Kaz
took out Lodi, but ended up schoolboyed for a two. Lenny used a
full nelson front slam, sort of a reverse Russian leg sweep, for a
the three count. Really good match. At this point, I just didn't
think it would be possible for the show be a downer. Match time
was 12:18.
* Brian Knobs & Hugh Morrus beat Shane Douglas & Dean Malenko: And
here began the sad booking pattern of the evening. Earlier on,
Perry Saturn promised a sweep for the Revolution, which left me
feeling pretty nervous. This match was no DQ. Douglas looks so
old. Flair looks younger. There was garbagy brawling at the start,
with nobody really selling anything. This is exactly the way to
use Dean Malenko, isn't it? They finally got in the ring, but the
match never shook the garbagy feel. It did seem like everybody
tried hard, which is at least something good, but if it isn't good
wrestling, I have trouble praising it. Knobs tripped Malenko.
Morrus hit a moonsault for the pin. That's what I call a push.
Match ran 9:26.
* Rick Steiner beat Perry Saturn to retain the TV title: Saturn
controlled the match early on, even doing a tope. Steiner rallied.
They did some garbagy brawling into the steps and the rail. Does
that crap have to be in every match? Steiner moved the mats and
DDTed Saturn on the floor. When Steiner was on offense the match
seemed to move at a snail's pace. Why is Steiner put above so many
other guys that actually have some heart and passion? At 5:00,
Saturn acted dead, with his comeback being cut off. Steiner
suplexed Saturn several times. Saturn was set on the top rope, but
rallied with some high spots, even getting a two count. The match
seemed to have some life at this point. A leap frog was turned
into a power slam by Rick. As soon as Rick went back on offense,
it seemed like the life was sucked back out of the match. Doesn't
the creative team watch these matches and feel these shifts?
Rhetorical question. Saturn DVDed Rick and only got a friggin' two
count. He tried for another DVD, but Rick sent him to the
turnbuckles. They jockeyed for position on the ropes, with Saturn
getting dumped and bulldogged for the loss. After this pretty
balanced match, just to underline the sense of indignation fans of
wrestling would have, Tony had the nerve to say, "Tonight it was
all Rick Steiner." Blow me, Tony. Match ran 9:25.
* Berlyn beat Jim Duggan: Earlier on, the commentators mentioned
that Buff Bagwell had not yet made it to the building, even though
he was backstage. As usual, Buff was crying about having to lose a
match. Get over it, pretty boy. So many other guys, had they been
given the push that you got for a few months, would have gotten
way over. You didn't. Live with it. But, no, instead Buff had to
sabotage Berlyn's debut. And leaving them scrambling to the point
that Jim Duggan gets dropped into the match cold is pretty serious
sabotage. Also funny, before this match, as the commentators
prattled on about Hulk Hogan's interview regarding Sting, the
crowd chanted "we want Flair." Bagwell not being there drew huge
boos. There was a huge "USA" chant as well when Berlyn came out.
Alex seemed great at the get-go. But Duggan sucked so badly and
came in not really knowing what his role was to be (giving the
benefit of the doubt), so the match was horrible much more often
than not. Alex tried for the Kunze stump puller (hey, that's what
they called it in r.s.p-w), but the move just fell apart. Speaking
of which, the whole match fell apart for several minutes, as it
seemed like they were starting not to cooperate with each other.
That was actually kind of weird to see, especially since Duggan is
hardly the guy you'd want to see in the ring when this sort of
thing happens. Berlyn's unnamed bodyguard exposed the floor and
clotheslined Duggan on the floor. Duggan acted dead. Back in the
ring, they did a sloppy neckbreaker for the three count. Match ran
7:59 (of hell, for the most part). Bagwell "arrived at the
building" just as the match was ending (wink, wink) and told Mike
Graham that he should have "changed the format." Yeah, like
Bagwell vs. Berlyn should have been higher on the card. Is Buff
supposed to be a babyface? Buff said his plane was delayed; yeah,
it was circling Ego Airport and couldn't land because Buff's head
was in the way. Bagwell came out to hug Duggan, who pushed him
off. I was so hoping for Duggan to whack Bagwell upside the head
with the two-by-four; it would have been the first time I cheered
for Duggan. And it would be delicious for Buff to have a program
against Duggan. Sigh.
* Harlem Heat beat Barry Windham & Kendall Windham to win the WCW
Tag titles: It was sort of lacklustre most of the way. Barry
Windham has been pretty bad ever since his peak years of
1987-1988, while Kendall & Stevie Ray have never been good. And,
of course, Booker T has singles greatness written all over him,
which explains why he finds himself in this position in WCW. Late
in the match, they were getting heat on Booker. The referee missed
some tags. Stevie came in and cleaned up anyhow, including on Curt
Hennig. All four guys came in, with Booker & Barry going out to
the floor. Stevie was hit with the bell. The referee refused to
count. You see, when this melee started, Booker T was still the
legal man, and this night the referee was sticking to the idea
that the legal man has to pinned even if that same referee lets
the illegal men get all up in his area. Booker hit a missile drop
kick for the pin. Match ran 13:05 and was a waste of Booker.
* Sid beat Chris Benoit to win the US title: Charles Robinson was
the referee. That made sense. Chris wore an armband for Brian
Hildebrand, who sadly passed away on 09/08. Benoit was just
awesome from the start of the match. It really says something that
he didn't dog it after the supposed push of his group was tanked.
Benoit hit a dragon screw leg whip on Sid, who had no clue how to
bump for that spot. He went after Sid's legs. He put on an indian
death lock. Sid used an eye rake. Sid didn't sell his leg at all
afterwards. What a prick. Sid missed a charge into the corner,
which hurt is injured knee. You know, the one that doesn't merit a
small limp due to the severe injury. Benoit posted the knee,
sandwiched it between the steps and the post, and pounded it to
crap. Sid stood up and pretty much no-sold the whole thing. Sid
caught Benoit's cross body attempt. Benoit hit a German suplex. He
tried for a crucifix, but Sid dropped back into a fallaway slam.
Sid sold his knee for the first time, actually limping for just a
few seconds. What a pro. Sid did a cobra clutch slam for a two
count. Sid sat off a sunset flip for a two. Sid limped a little
more. Benoit was so awesome. Again, it felt like the crowd was
ready for Benoit to get the win, but WCW is blind to its audience.
Benoit put on the crossface. Just to make sure that that move gets
killed, Sid stood up with Benoit wrapped around him and walked to
the ropes for the break. Benoit tried a top rope headbutt, missed,
and was powerbombed for the loss. Match ran 11:43. It is so sad to
see what WCW does to its best workers.
* Goldberg beat Diamond Dallas Page: DDP's microphone shtick just
sucks. Goldberg now comes out to his old music. The fans can
actually chant to that music. DDP was stripped of several foreign
objects. They fought in the crowd for just a few seconds. After a
low kick and an object punch, DDP drew heat on Goldberg. DDP used
his object again for a two count. Goldberg hulked up. I'm not
joking: three punches, foot to the face. Page countered a rope
spot with a DDT for a two count. The triad came out. Kanyon broke
a serving dish over Goldberg's head and DDP got a two. Goldberg
speared everyone and jackhammered DDP for the pin. At least the
crowd got what they wanted out of this one. This was hardly a
match to compare to their PPV main event from last year. Match ran
9:04.
* Sting beat Hulk Hogan to win the WCW title: Bret Hart came out to
wish both guys luck and then went backstage. The match opened with
those really bad Hulk Hogan technical wrestling sequences. They
did some armbars and hammerlocks and counters. It was like they
were wrestling underwater because they were moving so slowly. They
brawled around the guard rail. Hogan choked Sting with a cord.
Finally, back in the ring, Sting missed his third Stinger splash.
Hogan hulked: three punches, foot to the face. But DDP came out
and decked the referee. Hogan hit the leg drop. DDP hit the
diamond cutter on Hogan and put Sting on top for the two count.
Bret came out and chased off DDP. Sid came out. Hogan booted him.
Luger came in with a bat, but was knocked down. A total shmozz.
But wait, Sting picked up the bat. Sting batted Hogan. Luger
batted Bret. The scorpion got the win at 13:24. The crowd hardly
reacted to this as the major heel turn it should have been, maybe
because everybody has turned all over the promotion in recent
times. It doesn't help that the crowd really doesn't care for
Hogan all that much. There were actually some cheers for Sting
batting Hogan. And not just in my house.
Bad show, but I guess we have to wait until Halloween Havoc passes
before judging the somewhat new regime. I'm not hopeful. TV was a bit
disjointed maybe because of the transition. A positive element is that
they pretty much immediately started hyping Hulk Hogan vs. Sting as a
PPV main event for Havoc, many weeks before the show. Of course, given
that that match will headline a PPV, it might be argued that it isn't
a positive. They continued to screw with the workers and mess up
whatever babyface appeal several guys could have. First off, on the
09/13/99 Nitro, Chris Benoit beat Dean Malenko in an excellent match
to determine who would get a WCW title shot later in the show. Ric
Flair returned in the second segment on the show, making this the best
Nitro open in a long while. The ensuing angle, where Sting & Lex Luger
confronted Flair, with Flair saying he made them into millionaires,
etc., was wonderful. Of course, they beat up Flair, who was saved by
you know who. Sadly, Flair never appeared at the end of the show to
get his revenge. That's an example of booking your babyfaces as
weaklings. Now, in a totally annoying shift in booking, Bret Hart, who
had been deliberating for so long about whether he even had any
passion to return, who had finally announced the week before that only
a match against Hulk Hogan could bring him back, decided to return to
team with Hogan against Sting & Lex Luger. Why? Why? Why? That killed
Bret. With the snap of a finger, he's back to being just another
wrestler in the mix. All of his posturing, all of his honest emotion
and uncertainty, it all now means nothing. And, of course, the
commentators pushed the Hart & Hogan tag match, even though it was
initially just a challenge by those two, when the real question should
have been why was Benoit getting screwed out of his title shot? Poor
Benoit had to go to the ring and call Sting out. Sting didn't surface.
Rick Steiner came out, saying that Sting had more important business,
but that he'd put up his TV title against Benoit. Worse yet, even
though they passed the title to Benoit, Steiner hardly put him over.
There wasn't even a real pin in the match, with Steiner kicking out at
two but the referee counting three anyhow. You'd have to work pretty
hard to screw Benoit's chances like this. At pretty much every show,
the crowd is so obviously willing to accept him as a breakthrough
star, but the promotion weakens him at every turn. Perry Saturn beat
Eddie Guerrero in another great match. Even though I come out of every
WCW show shaking my head at the crap that they deliver the majority of
the time, they still deliver these great matches so much more
frequently than the WWF. Oh yes, Berlyn beat Buff Bagwell on Nitro,
the night after Bagwell wimped out of the PPV match. At least somebody
cracked down on Buff's crybaby whining.
Thunder on 09/16/99 was a compilation of main events from Nitro and
PPVs. It was funny to see them try to make sense out of the past story
lines. It looked like they were considering bringing back Jeff Farmer
as NWO Sting to work with Sting. On Nitro on 09/20/99, Ric Flair came
back hot, too little too late, though. Worse yet, he won't even get
his chance at revenge until the next Nitro when he & Hogan & Bret face
Sting & Luger & DDP. They gave Chris Benoit his title shot against
Sting. Of course, it was the best Sting match I can remember in the
past six years. And, of course, Benoit came out of it looking like a
secondary shmuck. He had Sting reeling when Lex Luger ran in and used
the bat on Benoit. That led to everybody running in. The fallout was
that the six-man was announced for next week. Tony Schiavone said that
based on the events of the title match, the championship committee was
working hard to put together a special match for Nitro the following
week (the six man). You might figure that Benoit would be involved,
right? Wouldn't it be nice to put Benoit in that mix, having Flair
play statesman, say? But no. Benoit gets shmozzed and then has to
slink off without every even talking about revenge. This sort of angle
is usually used to build up a challenger as a real threat; if the
champ had to squeak out a win by using interference so overtly, then a
match which eliminates interference as a possibility should follow as
the money match, right? But that won't happen here. Okay, then, maybe
Benoit will get to beat Lex Luger at Havoc. Yeah, right. Scott Steiner
also returned, looking as huge as always. He did this weird interview
talking about Hulk Hogan leaving the NWO, as if the NWO were still a
viable entity. After having Rick Steiner shoved down our throats for
the past few weeks, I had started to wonder what could be worse than
one Steiner. Now I know. On Thunder on 09/23/99, Sid went over Booker
T, when referee Charles Robinson, the guy who can't spell millennium,
actually grabbed Booker to stop his advantage. No new ideas.
All of this builds to Halloween Havoc on 10/24/99. Tentative line-up
has:
* Sting vs. Hulk Hogan for the WCW Title
* Sid vs. Goldberg for the US Title
- Rena Mero had a role in the second season premier of the
Canadian-made Francis Ford Coppola TV show First Wave. The show began
as a combination of other cult favourites from recent years, The
Nowhere Man and The X-Files, but has sort of morphed into something
that also resembles V. Anyhow, Rena played the superior alien who was
destroyed by the end of the show. I guess she made this deal before
the blow-up with the WWF, since she was listed as Sable in the
credits.
It's interesting because Playboy will be featuring Rena yet again in
their issue slated for an October 19 release date. The cover
proclaimed that we'd see more of "The Woman You Loved as Sable in the
Raw," so the WWF lawyers actually yelled copyright foul, winning the
case. This means that Playboy had to reprint their first print run of
500000 magazines.
- TSN debuted a new show last Monday in the half-hour before the live
RAW broadcast at 9:00pm EST. The show, called Full Contact Fighter,
after the magazine of the same name, focused on the Ultimate Fighting
Championship which took place last night, although they also talked
more generally about mix martial arts fighting, showing clips from
various recent shows. I thought the show was really great. At the
start of the show they aired a package narrated by Michael Landsberg
that debunked the popular misconceptions about the barbaric nature of
MMA fighting. That several-minute long piece was just super, perfectly
clear, and inarguably accurate. Later in the show, they had interviews
with both Frank Shamrock and Tito Ortiz regarding their match at the
UFC last night (and wasn't that just a great match?). They ended the
show by saying that Ken Shamrock adamantly states that he will return
to the MMA fighting world.
- ECW TV on TNN definitely had some good moments in the past two
weeks. The two Rob van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn matches were both really
good, although I still find some of the stuff they do with each other
to be too choreographed (usually the bits involving chairs). Still, it
is nice to sit through 45 minutes or so of a TV show (minus
commercials) and see 10 or 15 minutes of pretty good to really good
wrestling. The WWF TV shows don't come anywhere close to that stat.
And WCW Nitro TV requires 2:15 of watching for maybe 10 or 20 minutes
of really good wrestling. But I sure could live without all of the
garbagy stuff.
ECW had Anarchy Rulz on 09/19/99. The show was pretty good, although I
always find ECW stuff to be a real mixed bag. Everybody tries hard,
but there are a lot of guys that just don't have much. There's almost
always something embarrassingly bad and there's also almost always
something really good. This show was no different, another roller
coaster ride. Rundown:
* Lance Storm beat Jerry Lynn: These two guys are two out of the
four or five reasons to watch ECW. The match opened nicely. They
did a heavily choreographed spot to get out of the ring for the
requisite guard rail shots. The crowd was so appreciative of the
wrestling they had done up to that point that they hurled out a
"show your tits" chant at Dawn Marie. Lynn did a plancha all the
way across the ringside floor a la El Gran Hamada, for example.
They did loads of two counts. It was really good. Dawn Marie
passed a chair into the ring, but it received minimal use,
thankfully. Lance was DDTed on the chair, but Dawn Marie put his
foot on the rope. Lynn took some rib shots, with the commentators
pushing that as a serious injury. Lynn hit the stunner. Since this
isn't the WWF, that's not a pinning move here. Storm charged Lynn,
who hit a rana for a two count, but sold his own ribs. Lance
rolled him up for the pin. Really good. Match time: 16:40.
* Simon Diamond & Tony DeVito faced Nova & Chris Chetti: This entire
segment was just horrible. First, Simon came out, with Jazz coming
out to confront him. Loads of crappy guys ran in. Finally, a tag
match fell into place. Early on Chetti injured himself going out
of the ring. Maybe that meant that the remaining guys had to
improvise, but everything was so brutally bad that I still think
we should hold it against them. Even Joey Styles was off, calling
a "uranage" a "uranachi." The crowd booed the flubbed moves. To
save the day, Amish Roadkill ran in. That would be like offering
another iceberg to the Titanic. Jazz got laid out. More losers ran
in. There was a brawl. It was pitiful. What could possibly finish
off this debacle? That's right: New Jack came in to clear house.
That's like offering the twice-iceberged Titanic a nuclear bomb.
Joey Styles said, "This situation is about to go from bad to
worse." Oh lord.
* Yoshihiro Tajiri beat Little Guido & Super Crazy in a triangle
match: They introed Big Sal as the "Big Salbowski," which made
them seem second rate. Match was good, but that's it. Tajiri hit a
pretty German suplex. Crazy did a tope and the other two caught
him a little too obviously. Sal fell through a table. Crazy used
the Romero chinlock on Tajiri. When Guido was in the tree of woe,
Tajiri nailed him with a kick and then Crazy hit the moonsault for
the pin at 9:21. Crazy & Tajiri continued for a short 5:17 before
Tajiri got the pin with a brainbuster.
* Justin Credible beat Sabu: Credible came out with a restraining
order to block Sabu from even entering the ring or building. WCW
used that same idea this week for Sid & Goldberg. The referee, who
apparently moonlights as a lawyer, read the paperwork and then
announced that Credible had a legal and binding order. However,
"tonight there is no law and order!" Oh man. Credible caned the
ring announcer before he could announce Sabu. The lights dipped
off, came on, and there was Sabu. Garbage wrestling right from the
get-go. Credible dumped Sabu through a table. They did that
terrible leg drop spot where poor Credible had to hold on to the
ropes and teeter totter around while Sabu climbed to the top rope.
Sabu hit a leg drop over the top on Credible on an angled table,
which looked dangerous for Credible. They talked to each other to
make sure things were okay. Sabu then did another dive onto the
wreckage. A table shard cut Credible severely. The only actual
wrestling in the match was a camel clutch spot, which dragged.
They pulled a table into the ring. They used the cane, but the
shots were lame because the cane was broken earlier over the
announcer's head. Stunner on Sabu. That's not a finishing move.
Credible hit a bulldog through the table. Styles: "He has to try
to outwrestle Sabu." It's too easy to take potshots at that line.
They did several tombstone counters, not the kind where they bend
over backwards, but the kind where they sort of cartwheel. Bill
Alfonso threw in a chair, which accidentally hit Sabu. More
tombstones and counters. Finally, Credible hit the tombstone on
the chair for the three count. I at least liked the result. Match
time: 14:07.
* Mike Awesome beat Taz & Masato Tanaka to win the ECW Title: They
passed out streamers to the fans, who threw them into the ring in
Japanese style. The expectation was that Taz would lose because of
the WWF deal. Earlier in the pre-game show, they suggested that
Mike Awesome would somehow get involved in the match. Before the
match started, the crowd chanted "you sold out" at Taz. Sure
enough, Mike Awesome came through the crowd, with Taz delivering a
profane interview asking for Awesome to be let in the ring. Paul
Heyman also got to swear a bit. The bout was turned into a three
way dance. At just two minutes in, Taz was hit with the rolling
elbow by Tanaka, who held him down so Awesome could hit a splash
off the top to eliminate Taz. The crowd chanted "Fuck you, Taz."
They had the locker room empty to watch the match, making the
title seem important. With the worst worker in the match gone,
there was a chance for this to be good, provided that it didn't
get too nonsensically garbagy. Awesome set up a table at ringside
and tried to power bomb Awesome through it from inside the ring.
That was a spot that Tanaka hit in the match they used to hype
this show. Tanaka dropped out, and both men ended up outside and
then on the ramp. Awesome had to stand there like a moron forever
while Tanaka did a wind sprint chair shot. The remaining match had
this slow Hoganesque portion for a while, with Awesome doing the
Hogan routine. I didn't find it that impressive. But they did some
really good stuff in the final minutes. It went garbagy again:
Tanaka planned to power bomb Awesome through the table that was
still set up at ringside, but the lift didn't coincide with
Awesome's kick-off to float over, so Tanaka ended up doing a lame
power bomb for a two; Tanaka immediately picked Awesome up for
another power bomb in the exact same location, which looked weak,
with Awesome this time kicking off so that he had the momentum to
go all the way over; Awesome then power bombed Tanaka through the
table. That wasn't the ending though. They did the requisite stiff
chair shots on Tanaka's head. He kept kicking out. Finally, with
another table set up in the ring, Awesome and Tanaka jockeyed for
postion on the top rope. Awesome ended up power bombing Tanaka
through the table for the pin at 11:35. Match was pretty good, but
the overall garbagy feel brought it down for me. Taz came in
afterwards to another "fuck you, Taz" chant. Taz presented the
belt to Awesome and shook his hand. On the ramp, Taz and Heyman
embraced. That led to the schizophrenic crowd chanting "Taz! Taz!"
The deal, apparently, is for Taz to finish out the year in ECW
before heading to the WWF.
* Tommy Dreamer & Raven beat Steve Corino & Rhino: Match started
with Rhino & Dreamer in the ring. Corino & Jack Victory were
around, but there was no sign of Raven. Dreamer chased off Corino.
Dreamer laid out Victory, but Rhino eventually got the upper hand.
Rhino then laid out Francine, who did the usual butt shot. Raven
tried to run in for the dramatic rescue, but got all tangled in
the ropes. It was funny. He then came in and did the miracle save.
Double DDT for the win at 4:15.
* Rob van Dam beat Balls Mahoney to retain the TV title: The match
was scheduled to be van Dam vs. Johnny Smith. It promised to be
one of the two best matches on the card. But there was a problem.
Axl Rotten came out to challenge Mike Awesome. The Impact Players
came out to talk down Axl. It ended with Balls Mahoney chairing
Johnny Smith straight in the face after Spike Dudley laid out Dawn
Marie. That left Axl & Balls & Spike in the ring, with Axl issuing
a challenge to van Dam for Balls. Well, this match just got a
whole lot worse on paper. Good thing this is the promotion that
delivers what they promise to their fans. Despite all the talk of
how Balls has improved, he's still not particularly good. They did
some garbagy stuff outside. I think van Dam tried really hard.
It's too bad that they couldn't use Smith for whatever reason.
They brawled outside, with Balls getting cut open by a chair shot.
van Dam did a somersault tope over the guard rail into the crowd.
The audience chanted "RVD" or was that "Our VD"? Back in the ring,
Balls got the upper hand momentarily. Mahoney did a leg drop off
the second rope that took too long to get set up. They must have
received a "go long" signal because they dropped to a head lock.
The commentators said that Balls "would be a tremendous television
champion." van Dam hit a superplex on Balls and bounced himself
off the mat to sell the impact. The usual van Dam chair spots
surfaced. You know, he put the chair across Balls, who (like Jerry
Lynn in the TNN matches) was forced to hold it in place while van
Dam prepared to launch himself for a leg drop. That just looks
lame every time van Dam does it. Balls hit a power bomb on van Dam
for a two. "I'm surprised by the technical mastery of Balls
Mahoney in this match," said Cyrus. Oh, come now. They really
tried to sell this as van Dam's biggest challenge. Balls actually
won me over a bit during the match, 'cause he was better than I
expected him to be, but he's still a garbage wrestler. Alfonso
came in to save van Dam. They did a choreographed chair spot, with
van Dam missile dropkicking the chair into Balls' face. Frog
splash for the pin at 19:50. They hugged afterwards.
- In the Observer, Dave Meltzer talked about the upcoming film "Beyond
the Mat" which focuses on the stories of Mick Foley, Tony Atlas, and
Jake Roberts. As part of the film, some wrestlers were given WWF try
outs. There is a scene that sounds hilarious, where Vince McMahon
watches on as a brdiging suplex is deliver in the ring, saying "that's
something new for us, a wrestling move, as if that was almost
something dirty." Sounds like another must-see.
- Wrath is slated to return to WCW shortly.
- More discussion of New Japan and All Japan TV.
The 07/11/99 and 07/18/99 All Japan TV shows were equally bland and
boring. Either matches were cut too short or they just weren't that
good. It was pretty depressing.
The 07/24/99 New Japan TV show opened with a tag match featuring
Michael Wallstreet & Masa Chono against Chiro Koshinaka & Kengo
Kimura. Now, Shiro is still great after all these years, but the other
three stink as in-ring wrestlers. Match sucked. Mr. Wallstreet did the
job to Shiro's butt bump off the top. Next up, Jushin Liger & El
Samurai faced Koji Kanemoto & Dr. Wagner Jr. Hey, now that looked
promising. As we joined the match, Liger hit a tilt-a-whirl
backbreaker on Koji and then put him in the bow and arrow, with
Samurai coming off the top with a knee across Koji's neck. 30 seconds
in and you know you aren't watching Monday night wrestling, if you get
my drift. Koji put Samurai in a camel clutch, and Wagner came in to
hit a dropkick to Samurai's face. First though, he ran off the ropes
to build some momentum. It was funny, 'cause he ran back and forth
several times, very quickly, and even tossed a somersault into one of
the runs for no real reason. Finally he hit the dropkick and the crowd
popped for the sports entertainment flavour. Yes, sports entertainment
without profanity, breasts, blood, breasts, nonwrestlers, or breasts.
Samurai rallied, missed a top rope head butt, countered a suplexed
attempt by Koji, and eventually made the tag to Liger. He hit a top
rope Frankensteiner before leaving the ring. Liger came in with a
diving splash of the top. Koji rallied, hitting his picture-perfect
moonsault before tagging out. Wagner was a hoot in this match, doing
some heavily animated spots that got over. He missed a somersault
senton, but rallied, getting a two with a magistral cradle. A splash
for a two. Liger escaped a razor's edge style power bomb. Samurai &
Koji ended up outside after a tope. Liger and Wagner traded wonderful
spots. Wagner had the pin, but Samurai saved. Wagner did the
thumb-across-the-throat gesture a la Chris Benoit to signal the end.
He tried for a power bomb, but Liger hit a ran. Samurai snuck in with
a dropkick. Koji & Samurai went to the floor. Liger hit a Liger bomb
for the pin. Wonderful * * * 1/2 match. Two more tag matches rounded
out the TV show, but neither of them was particularly noteworthy. It
was interesting to see how New Japan used Meng, almost convincing me
that he has some strengths worth highlighting in wrestling matches.
The crowd again seemed into Meng vs. Scott Norton, but the booking
smartly only let them lock up for a few seconds here and there.
Believe it or not, Meng got the win by putting his lame death grip on
Tenzan.
The 07/31/99 New Japan TV show opened with a chair attack angle at the
start of a tag match involving Masa Chono & NWO Sting vs. Shinya
Hashimoto & Tatsumi Fujinami. They showed what I guess was a match
afterwards. It ended inside two minutes. It seemed way to North
American style. Luckily, it was followed by an IWGP Jr. Heavyweight
tag title match with champions Jushin Liger & Great Sasuke defending
against Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Shinjiro Otani. When you've got a match
involving four guys and Great Sasuke is the worst of the lot, you know
you are in for something great. At the open, Otani suplexed Sasuke
silly, hit his swan dive dropkick, went for a power bomb, and was
ranaed twice. Takaiwa accidentally clotheslined his partner. Sasuke
hit his somersauly tope on Otani, landing on the guard rail, of
course. Liger hit a pescado as well. Otani did his vicious kicks
across Liger's face. He even did one with Takaiwa whipping him to give
the illusion of stronger impact. But Liger ended up countering a
suplex with his own brainbuster. He tagged in Sasuke. Sasuke came in
with a missile dropkick for a two. Sasuke's hand was all bandaged. He
got a few quick two counts. Otani's selling was great. I know, I know,
Rock can sell really well, and Kane is now a good worker. Sasuke
missed a lame splash off the top. Otani power bombed him into next
week, with Liger making the save. Takaiwa was tagged in. I really like
how this guy has developed over the years. He went for his power bomb
spot, but Sasuke tried to escape, so Takaiwa dropped him face first
into the turn buckle. Takaiwa tried again for the power bomb, but this
time Sasuke did get out. Liger took control on Takaiwa. Top rope
fishermanbuster. Otani made the save. Liger & Sasuke double teamed
Otani, with Sasuke then hitting a no-hands somersault tope on Otani.
In the ring, Takaiwa managed a death valley driver on Liger. He hit
his triple bomb. Otani couldn't hold off Sasuke, though, and the save
was made. The camera angle on that was awesome. Sasuke tried for some
funky moonsault-thing, didn't connect, and ended up getting dumped. In
the ring, Liger & Takaiwa traded spots. They slapped the crap out of
each other, before Takaiwa caught Liger's wrists on slap attempts,
acted totally groggy, but managed to take Liger over in a
straightjacket suplex for the pin and the title change. Afterwards,
Takaiwa still lay there, selling that he'd had the stuffing slapped
out of him. It was an awesome * * * * 1/2 match, enough to renew my
faith in wrestling for another month or so. This great match was
followed by a couple of poor tag matches. The main event saw Keiji
Muto successfully defend the IWGP Title against Satoshi Kojima. Match
was okay at best.
- PPV buy rates, revenue (in millions), and match statistics for the
WWF, WCW, and ECW are presented in the following 1999 summary sheet
(the PPV draw(s) are listed, as well as the quality matches):
Show Data Match Rating Data
Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * *
WWF
99/07/25: Fully Loaded
Steve Austin vs. Undertaker 1.4 $6.7 1.75 * * * * * 3/4
Steve Austin vs. Undertaker 0%
(0 of 9)
99/06/27: King of the Ring
Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon vs. Shane McMahon 1.13 $5.41 1 3/4 * *
1/2
Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon vs. Shane McMahon 0%
(0 of 10)
99/05/23: Over The Edge
Steve Austin vs. Undertaker 1.1 $5.28 Owen Hart dies
99/04/25: Backlash
Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 1.06 $5.09 2.28 * * 1/4 * * * * 1/4
Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 12.5%
(1 of 8)
99/03/28: WrestleMania
Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 2.3 $12.04 1.13 * 1/4 * * * 1/2
Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 0.0%
(0 of 9, no shoot)
99/02/14: St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon
Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia 1.2 $5.33 1.28 * 1/4 * * * 3/4
Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia 0.0%
(0 of 8)
99/01/24: Royal Rumble
Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia
Royal Rumble 1.57 $6.97 1.83 * 1/2 * * * 3/4
Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia 0.0%
(0 of 6)
Last 6 1.37 $6.64 1.47 1.5 3.55 2.3%
(1 of 44)
1999 1.39 $6.69 1.51 1.5 3.58 2%
(1 of 50)
1998 1.02 $4.42 1.60 1.63 3.65 4.0%
(4 of 101)
Show Data Match Rating Data
Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * *
WCW
99/07/11: Bash at the Beach
Kevin Nash & Sting vs. Randy Savage & Sid Vicious 0.41 1.95 0.75 1/2*
* * * 1/2
Chris Benoit & Saturn vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Kanyon & Bam Bam
Bigelow 0%
(0 of 7)
99/06/13: Great American Bash
Kevin Nash vs. Randy Savage 0.43 2.05 0.75 3/4* * * * 1/4
Chris Benoit & Saturn vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Kanyon 0%
(0 of 9)
99/05/09: Slamboree
Kevin Nash vs. Diamond Dallas Page 0.45 2.15 1.75 * * * * * 1/4
Raven & Saturn vs. Rey Misterio Jr. & Konnan vs. Chris Benoit & Dean
Malenko 0%
(0 of 9)
99/04/11: Spring Stampede
Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan vs. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Sting 0.6 2.86
2.31 * * 1/2 * * * * 1/4
Juventud Guerrera vs. Blitzkrieg 11.1%
(1 of 9)
99/03/14: Uncensored
Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan 0.73 $3.48 1.83 * * * * * 1/2
Billy Kidman vs. Mikey Whippreck 0%
(0 of 9)
99/02/21: SuperBrawl
Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan 1.1 $5.27 1.89 * * 1/2 * * * 1/4
Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Kevin Nash
Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page 0%
(0 of 9)
99/01/17: Souled Out
Bill Goldberg vs. Scott Hall
Ric Flair & David Flair vs. Curt Hennig & Barry Windham 0.78 $3.64
1.83 * 1/2 * * * *
Billy Kidman vs. Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera vs. Psicosis
11.1%
(1 of 9)
Last 6 0.62 $2.96 1.55 1.71 3.5 1.9%
(1 of 52)
1999 0.64 $3.06 1.59 1.68 3.57 3.2%
(2 of 61)
1998 0.93 $3.96 1.54 1.73 3.73 4.5%
(5 of 111)
Show Data Match Rating Data
Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * *
ECW
99/01/10: Guilty As Charged
Shane Douglas vs. Taz 0.2 $0.42 1.68 * * 1/2 * * * 1/2
Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy 0.0%
(0 of 7)
Last 6 0.22 $0.42 1.93 2 3.42 5.3%
(1 of 19)
1999 0.2 $0.42 1.68 2.5 3.5 0.0%
(0 of 7)
1998 0.23 $0.43 1.56 1.5 3.00 3.7%
(1 of 27)
Longer-term data is available. The data now runs back to 1991.
- The WWF has No Mercy on 10/17/99.
- The WWF has Survivor Series on 11/14/99.
- WCW has a PPV (BattleBowl?) on 11/21/99. This show will take place
at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. It's expected that Bret Hart will
play a major role on this show.
- The WWF has Armageddon on 12/12/99.
- The WWF has Royal Rumble on 01/23/00.
- The WWF has No Way Out on 02/27/00.
- The WWF has WrestleMania on 04/02/00.
- The WWF has Backlash on 04/30/00.
- The WWF has Judgment Day on 05/21/00.
- The WWF has King of the Ring on 06/25/00.
- The WWF has Fully Loaded on 07/23/00.
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Thanks to: Masaki Aso.
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